


infinity mirror

by kimwoojin



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Psychics/Psionics, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Murder Mystery, Partners in Crime, Slow Burn, Violence, and even slower updates so its a fair warning, based on he is psychometric but only sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-03-05 20:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18836605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimwoojin/pseuds/kimwoojin
Summary: infinity mirror (n.); a pair of parallel mirrors, which create a series of smaller and smaller reflections that appear to recede to infinity.Jinyoung didn't understand it at first, he didn't know what Yugyeom had meant until the boy caught his hand and everything became crystal clear. The infinity effect disappeared and what was left was the terrifying realization of making a mistake. A mistake that could cost Yugyeom his life.





	1. 01: cold hands, colder heart.

**Author's Note:**

> more or less based on jinyoung's drama "he is psychometric"  
> for the plot purposes i've changed the age of the members: yugyeom is still the youngest (19 at the start of the story). jinyoung, bam and jackson are the same age (22 at the start of the story), and the rest is above 25 (their age isn't that important, i just needed them to be older than jinyoung). i hope it isn't too confusing!  
> im very excited to write it but whoever has read my TAFDYE fic knows that the updates will be Slow  
> as always: english isn't my first language so excuse my mistakes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNINGS:** mentions of dead bodies and blood.

**01  
** **cold hands, colder heart**

> **_psychometry (n.)_**  
>  psy·cho·met·ri | \ ˌsī-kə-ˈme-tri \
> 
> an ability to measure and interpret the essence or history of a person or thing through touch. 

**— i —**

"I hope you do realize that his brother is going to kill us all if he finds out you brought him here again?"

Doctor Kang seized the two men standing in front of her with a displeased look. In the last two weeks she'd seen them way more times than she'd like and after each of them, she would get in trouble with the prosecutor, as if she forcibly dragged his younger brother into the morgue. That idiot once fell asleep here, _asleep_ in a _morgue_ full of _dead_ people, and if this wasn't enough to tell the prosecutor that his brother is at the very least difficult to deal with, then doctor Kang didn't know what else could she do. 

"That's why he doesn't need to find out," detective Mark Tuan smiled softly, tilting his head. Damn him and his manners, doctor Kang wasn't _that_ weak for pretty faces. "He's still at the crime scene and I've asked Youngjae to buy us some time."

"Youngjae," doctor Kang deadpanned. "Choi Youngjae, the same one who almost cried when the prosecutor sneezed too loudly? You want him to hold your boss? Jesus Christ, no wonder all your criminals run away lately."

Mark blushed, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Well, to be fair it was a loud sneeze. And we really need help with that one, almost all evidence is burnt to toast, we have no witnesses, no motives, nothing. Too many people died this time for us to have to turn this into a cold case," he tried to convince the woman, wondering if the usage of charming smiles is appropriate while talking about death. Well, he was a police officer, he needed to do what he needed to do.

Doctor Kang skeptically glanced over at the young student behind Mark. "And you think this time he can help?"

"I... wouldn't go that far," Mark answered carefully, earning a hard punch on the arm from the boy.

"Then why did you even bring me here, hyung?" Park Jinyoung whined, trying to act as if he had any sort of dignity and would walk out if they didn't take him seriously. The truth was, he barely ever had the chance to practice his skills on actual people or, well, corpses. His brother didn't want to let him tag along during cases ( _"it's dangerous, Jinyoung, I'm not going to a grocery store"_ ) or let him spend time in the morgue.

Instead he told Jinyoung to read books, books! Did Jaebeom even know how many people have touched those books before Jinyoung? Each page filled with useless memories that were overwhelming to him. That's why he hated reading people that were alive; it was just too messy, not to mention the fact that it was a sort of privacy violation. Jaebeom didn't have problems with Jinyoung touching the living, but touching the dead would be a lack of decency? His morality was seriously flawed, that one Jinyoung knew. Whenever he accidentally touched the living, he would suffer from a serious headache for the rest of the day, that's why he tried to always hide his hands in the sleeves or pockets, to the point where people at his university started gossiping about some hand disease. Screw them, as long as they stayed away from him everything worked just fine. 

"I'm desperate," Mark admitted, shrugging lightly. 

"That's... that's fair," Jinyoung nodded, swaying at the balls of his feet. It's not like he was very helpful in previous cases, but it was always worth a shot and he was grateful for Mark's... trust in him, if nothing else. Not a lot of people knew about Jinyoung's abilities but Mark was one of the very few that believed in him, maybe even more so than Jaebeom. It was nice. 

Doctor Kang sighed and rolled her eyes, leading them to the table on which the corpse was lying. "Five minutes and then you're out of here, I'm not risking it again."

Both men nodded quickly, not wanting to lose their chance. Jinyoung looked down at the corpse and frowned; almost the whole body was covered in burns, some worse than the others. Jinyoung hated arson cases for personal reasons so it was quite harder for him, Mark of course knew that so he wouldn't ask Jinyoung for help if this wasn't absolutely necessary. That was the reason Jinyoung forced himself to stop thinking about the past as he slowly rolled up the sleeve of his red hoodie, touching the forehead of the dead with just the tips of his fingers.

At first nothing happened and then reality seemed to slowly shatter into small pieces that flew up around Jinyoung, replaced with the images the dead person saw just before their death. A corridor, Jinyoung assumed it was the hospital that burned down earlier that day, he was seeing things with the stranger's eyes. The man was walking towards the room with a number... 3... 34... something; the images he saw were always blurry, that's why during most cases he couldn't get any details to help. Jinyoung frowned, the man turned towards the doors and opened it, and then his feelings abruptly changed. The difference between reading alive and dead people was mostly in how their feelings affected Jinyoung: feelings of the alive were always strong and vivid, changes between them too fast for Jinyoung to be able to catch and decipher them all, whereas feelings of the dead were just like a small breeze, Jinyoung could feel them and they were still there, but they barely touched him. The strongest feeling of the dead man was fear now, it changed from surprise and confusion as he slowly understood what was happening in front of him. And Jinyoung understood with him; a woman with a match, canister thrown on the floor, sleeping patients. She looked towards the doors when they opened and everything went fast from there, she lit a match and dropped it, fire immediately followed traces of the gasoline. Jinyoung wanted to scream and wake the patients up but he knew that it wouldn't work, the blood was already dripping from their bed as the fire started to consume their bodies, but then the woman yelled and threw herself at the man in the doors, raising her hands to his neck and squeezing...

Jinyoung immediately opened his eyes and stumbled back, falling to the floor with hands clutching at his own neck. He coughed loudly, gasping for breath and then looked up at the surprised faces of Mark and doctor Kang. Mark quickly recovered and helped Jinyoung stand, careful not to touch his hands. 

"Are you okay?" the detective asked with concern. Jinyoung nodded, he had never felt it so strongly, but then again he had never actually seen the precise moment those people died. "What did you see?" Mark asked, already taking out his small notebook and a pen out of nowhere. 

"I'm..." Jinyoung started and then coughed, trying to get rid of the hoarseness in his voice. "I don't think I've really seen anything helpful," he tried to be fair and doctor Kang snorted, this wasn't news to her.

"Everything helps," Mark assured, trying to encourage Jinyoung to talk. 

Jinyoung slowly massaged his neck and nodded, trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling of being... well, choked to death. "Okay, so... I didn't see the suspect's face and I assume you already knew it was a woman, but..."

Mark's head snapped up and doctor Kang frowned at the sudden movement. "Wait, don't tell me he's being helpful right now."

"Keep going," Mark urged, ignoring the doctor. Jinyoung, with completely no reason, could feel that he's starting to grow a second head even tho this information really wasn't helpful at all if he couldn't properly describe the arsonist.

"She looked rather crazy, I mean she _was_ dancing with a match in a pool of gasoline."

"A patient?" Mark suggested with a raised eyebrow. "It was a mental hospital, after all."

Jinyoung thought about it and then slowly shook his head. "She wasn't dressed as one, at least. But I don't think she did all of it alone, she didn't look capable enough. She was rather small and... unstable, I doubt she'd be able to carry this through alone. She used gasoline, she had to have someone to help her get those canisters there. And I think... I think I've heard a man's voice behind me when she started to strangle the guy—"

"Strangle?" this time it was doctor Kang who stopped him. She walked around the autopsy table and put on her white gloves to raise the man's chin. His body was burnt to the point where she couldn't see any marks on his neck that would indicate he was strangled. Of course, she wasn't done with her job yet before the detective came and interrupted her, but on the crime scene someone put fire as the cause of death. She was going to get that someone fired if the stupid psychic kid was right. 

"Yeah, feisty little thing. She was so small and yet so strong," Jinyoung sighed and then frowned. Why was his voice hoarse if it wasn't actually him that was being choked? Why did he feel so uncomfortable? He'd love to say that his abilities were improving but that sounded unlikely, seeing that his reading was as blurry as always, so this was even more weird. 

"You said something about a man's voice? Do you remember anything specific about it? An accent, lisp, anything?" Mark asked but before Jinyoung had the chance to answer, the detective's phone started to ring. He took it out and looked at the screen, cursing quietly. "It's Youngjae," he informed Jinyoung before accepting the call. "Yeah? Yeah, we're... He's where now?! Why didn't you call me earlier? Doctor Kang was right, you're absolutely useless, Choi Youngjae... Oh, don't give me that crap, you know the prosecutor is... Yeah, just... two more minutes, think you can do that?" he hang up and quickly turned towards Jinyoung. "It's your brother, he's already here. We have to go out, quick."

"I told you the Choi boy won't be helpful," doctor Kang rolled her eyes but then seemed to remember that if the prosecutor sees Jinyoung here, she'll also be in trouble. "Get him out of here!" 

"No, wait," Jinyoung said, shaking his head. "You both stay here. You already told hyung that you're coming here, he's going to think it's weird that you already left. I'll go alone."

"Never have I thought that I'll witness a day that this kid is making a better detective job than a detective," the doctor muttered, shooting Mark an amused glance. The man blushed again and sighed, deciding to ignore that comment. 

Jinyoung's process of growing a second head was almost complete now. 

"Go, call me when you're out so I know he didn't see you," Mark waved a hand at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung smirked, putting on the red hood and quickly walking out of the morgue. By now he was quite good at sneaking out. 

**— ii —**

"Did you actually see something this time, though?" Jackson Wang hummed to the phone, making Jinyoung roll his eyes as he sidestepped another person on the sidewalk. Walking through such crowded spaces was always a pain because when people were in a hurry, they didn’t mind head butting you just to get you out of their way and Jinyoung was not here to learn the life stories of every person in Seoul. 

"Would I lie about it?" Jinyoung asked back, frowning. He tried to recall everything he saw in case he missed anything the first time; performing psychometry always left him drained of energy so sometimes the details were coming later. Rarely but... sometimes. He tried to focus on the man's voice because of the questions Mark asked but there seemed to be nothing special about it. Jinyoung wasn’t good with things like that.

"You did before," Jackson reminded with a laugh, distracting Jinyoung and making him snort. He looked up at the traffic lights, it was blinking so he had about thirty seconds to cross the street before the cars would start again. He tugged the hood on his head and quickly started to jog to the other side, still careful not to touch anyone.

"That’s because when you first found out about my ability you thought it’s the best thing ever. I was trying to humor you," Jinyoung explained for the umpteenth time. He jumped to the sidewalk again and exactly a second later the lights changed to red.

The engines of cars roared behind him and then a few things happened at the same time. Jinyoung could hear some screams in front of him and when he looked up, he noticed a tall boy running straight onto the road. His shoulder bumped into Jinyoung and from then Jinyoung didn’t think much, he reached to catch the boy's wrist; the stranger was slightly bigger than him and his momentum made Jinyoung stumble back but then he pulled the boy towards himself, a car that passed them made Jinyoung feel a breeze on his skin from how close it was. The stranger held onto Jinyoung’s shoulder to gain balance and Jinyoung looked up to see his face, but before it could happen, the reality shattered and Jinyoung wasn’t in his own head anymore. The boy's skin was incredibly cold under Jinyoung's warm fingers; the images flashed at a speed Jinyoung didn’t experience before. 

Some old warehouse, big metal containers all around, smell... smell of water, ocean. The visions were never this fast but they were never this vivid either, the only blurry thing was... the man in front of him. A man. A gun. Jinyoung didn’t feel scared, he was furious but it wasn’t his own anger. He—the boy—looked to the side and Jinyoung saw his reflection in the window, then the gun went off—

The stranger harshly pushed Jinyoung back, breaking the contact. Jinyoung opened his eyes and finally saw his face; this was the face he saw in the window.

He was staring down at Jinyoung with wide eyes, something flashed over his features, but then the screams sounded behind Jinyoung again and the boy's head snapped up. He cursed quietly and shot Jinyoung one last glare; half-curious, half-annoyed. Then he made a run for it. Seconds later Jinyoung was pushed to the side by a few men that seemed to be chasing the stranger.

But Jinyoung couldn’t move, his eyes were stuck on the place the boy stood in a few seconds ago. It couldn’t... He had never... It wasn’t possible, was it?

Jinyoung with shaky fingers disconnected the call without another word to Jackson and then he dialed another number, already forcing himself to move forward. He needed to go. Now.

**— iii —**

Jaebeom slowly eyed his younger brother but Jinyoung didn’t budge under his gaze. This wasn’t even his office and yet he threw Mark out from the detective's chair behind the desk just so he could make it look like an interrogation. Superiority complex at its finest. 

"You cannot see the future, Jinyoung," Jaebeom furrowed his eyebrows, voice as calm as always.

"I know that, hyung!" Jinyoung said frustrated, tugging at his long sleeves. "That’s why I’m here! I told you what I saw, the gun fired but this guy was standing right in front of me and I think it’s even less likely for me to see ghosts than the future. I’m not lying, hyung. I wouldn’t lie to you, it felt like it was... like _I_ was..."

Suddenly Mark put a hand on his shoulder, making him trail off and take a deep breath. "Nobody is saying you’re lying, Jinyoung, calm down first. And you," he turned towards Jaebeom when he saw how Jinyoung’s hands were shaking. "Maybe try to figure out why he could’ve seen that instead of stressing him out more, huh? If you won’t help him, then who will?" he asked softly, making Jaebeom frown even deeper, as if he wanted to say that Jinyoung is not a child anymore and he doesn't need consoling all the time. 

But then Jinyoung looked up and there was something desperate in his face that made Jaebeom bite his tongue. 

"What if... What if something happens to him?"

"You won't be responsible for that," Jaebeom answered immediately but it was the voice he used as a prosecutor, not as Jinyoung's brother. "You're not responsible for every person on this planet, you're not even responsible for me. Your own actions is what you're responsible for," he added a little softer this time. 

Jinyoung knew he was putting Jaebeom on the spot right now, his hyung hated showing any kinds of weaknesses in front of the people he worked with even if Mark had been his friend for the past few years. But Jinyoung needed it right now, he needed to hear that maybe he can do something or maybe that things will be fine even if he doesn't intervene. When he first discovered his abilities, he thought it's the most awesome thing ever; he was just a small kid that lost his parents few months prior but now he could suddenly see so many things. He touched the belongings he had left, the ones that survived the fire, and he saw them again—not like on pictures, they were moving and laughing, he saw the last time they were together, talking about getting a dog. It wasn't much and Jaebeom had told him back then already that those memories will fade with time, but Jinyoung felt something like happiness for the first time since the fire. So he held onto that.

Until the first person called him a monster. And then another one. He still remembered the milk some boys from school poured over his head. He remembered touching people and seeing all those awful things, like his teacher being beaten by her husband; and he couldn't do anything because he was just a child. He remembered all those times he felt helpless, so helpless despite his special ability that proved to be useless time after time. And through it all there was Jaebeom still repeating the same thing—you're not responsible, this isn't your fault. Even when Jinyoung started to get the headaches and nosebleeds. _It's not your fault._

But what if it was? Knowing that something is happening and not preventing it, didn't at least some of the responsibility fall on Jinyoung? He could try all he wanted, he could improve his ability even at the cost of his own health, but this wouldn't change a thing. Seeing the memories of those who already died wouldn't bring them back. 

"Maybe it wasn't the future," Mark provided, trying to give some sort of comfort, seeing as Jaebeom was incapable of doing so. Not incapable, rather unwilling. "Maybe that boy got shot before? Death isn't always the ending result of being shot, maybe it was just a wound that got treated in time?" 

That... seemed more plausible. But something wasn't adding up, Jinyoung could feel it. He slowly raised a hand and started to move it along his own chest, frowning. The gun was raised about this high and the boy was only slightly taller than Jinyoung. 

"He would have been shot here," Jinyoung said, fingers clenching on his hoodie a little bit below his left shoulder. Jinyoung remembered that the stranger shrugged him off before Jinyoung could feel it, but he was sure this was the right place. He also knew there would be no time to dodge it. 

"That's... considerably far from heart," Jaebeom noticed. Something passed through his features just then but it was too fast for Jinyoung to catch it. By now he almost didn't even try, it's not like he could read his hyung anyway. "Don't take it the wrong way but you can barely see the past as of now, even if your abilities at some point would improve that much, it wouldn't be now. Please, remember that the fact that I've been with you the longest doesn't mean I know everything about your abilities. I'm trying to learn and adapt as much as you do, Jinyoung. Don't try to overdo it again."

This didn't help Jinyoung in the slightest. He was much calmer now, yes, but he still couldn't stop thinking about what he saw. There was a huge possibility that it already happened, maybe Mark was right and the boy did get shot before, Jinyoung wasn't crossing it out. He wasn't thinking clearly before because he was too shaken after both helping Mark and touching the boy, but now it actually seemed to make sense. Of course Jinyoung wouldn't be able to see the future, Jaebeom said he can't even see the past yet—which was also true. Sad, crushing and not helpful at all, but true all the same. He would be of no help to anyone either way.

Before he could apologize about freaking out, something interrupted him. There seemed to be a commotion at the station, officers were yelling at someone to calm down or they—whoever _they_ were—would be also charged with assault on the policemen. It clearly didn't help as the next thing Jinyoung could hear was something, probably a chair, being thrown against a wall. Mark shot him a quick look and ran out of the office with Jinyoung right behind him. 

"What's going on here?!" Mark yelled, looking around the station. "Are you really letting them destroy this place?"

Jinyoung saw four men in handcuffs being held by the officers, one of them restrained by both Youngjae and some other policeman; there was a toppled chair not too far away so this man must have been the one to kick it. They all looked furious and Jinyoung realized he had seen them before, they were the ones that pushed past him on the street earlier that day, though their faces were in much worse shape now. 

"No, boss," Youngjae sighed, pushing the handcuffed man back when he tried to shake the officers off again. "We just couldn't shut the other one up, he keeps talking shit to rile them up," Youngjae nodded towards the opposite side and Jinyoung's head involuntarily moved there, too. 

And then his heart dropped straight to his stomach. 

It was him. The shot stranger with cold hands. He was handcuffed too but the officer was just standing next to him instead of holding him, there were a few bruises on his face and his knuckles were bleeding, but... he was smiling. Not a real smile, at least Jinyoung thought it's too arrogant to look real, his head was tilted to one side and eyes were stuck on the guy that seemed the most aggressive. 

Jinyoung swallowed hard and slowly tugged at the back of Mark's shirt. "Hyung, hyung. It's him. That boy," he muttered quietly. Just in this moment the stranger turned towards him and the smile slowly slipped off his face. For some reason Jinyoung felt cold. 

Mark seemed confused until he looked from Jinyoung to the boy that was bleeding. "Are you sure?" he whispered and Jinyoung could only numbly nod. Mark cleared his throat. "Why aren't you holding him?" he asked the officer and the other one shrugged lazily.

"He's not fighting, boss. When we arrived at the scene, he was the only one that went willingly. He only asked that I don't touch him," the officer explained.

"He _asked_?" Mark's voice was full of disbelief. "Jesus Christ, doctor Kang was right. It's no wonder we can't catch anyone lately. Was it just a fight? Then get them out of here, what are you waiting for?!" he yelled when the policemen nodded. "Not that one, that one's still bleeding," he said to the man who was holding Jinyoung's stranger. "Sit him down here, I'll get his statement in a moment. Jinyoungie," Mark turned towards the younger boy, getting his attention again. "I'll be right back, you hear me? I'm giving you three minutes to ask him and then you need to go even if he doesn't tell you anything, is that clear?" he asked quietly.

Jinyoung nodded immediately; he couldn't ask for more. It seemed unbelievable that he could meet this boy again in such short time, he wouldn't miss that chance. He waited for Mark to leave and the officers to go back to their paperwork. The stranger was sitting on the chair that was usually used for witnesses, the blood from his hands was dripping on black jeans and handcuffs already left red marks around his wrists but he didn't seem bothered by any of it as he curiously looked around the station. Jinyoung slowly approached him, trying to look natural even though all the officers here already knew him and his bullshit; luckily this time they weren't paying any attention to him which allowed Jinyoung to flop on the chair on the opposite side of the desk to the boy.

"Hi, I have a quick question," Jinyoung said without beating around the bush, not wanting to waste time. Mark really could get in trouble if Jaebeom knew about this. The stranger slowly turned towards Jinyoung and raised an eyebrow, as if he wanted to say _why should I humor you by answering?_ "Did you get shot before?" 

Alright, maybe this wasn't subtlety at its finest, Jinyoung realized as he saw something pass across the stranger's face. But it disappeared almost as quickly as Jaebeom's emotions.

"Why? Want to know how it feels like? Want me to _show_ you how it feels like?" the boy's voice was emotionless, if not a little bit amused. 

For some reason this question made an alarm go off in Jinyoung's head once he understood that it could very well mean two things. One, the guy was threatening to shot Jinyoung to show him what it's like. Two... he could actually _show_ Jinyoung how _he_ felt when he got shot. Jinyoung wasn't sure which option is more terrifying. He didn't want to die and, honestly, he didn't think the boy would actually shoot him. But if the second one was what he meant, he would have to... 

"Do you... do you know about..." Jinyoung tried, involuntarily looking down at his own hands.

The stranger laughed, short and harsh. "Yeah. I wonder if _you_ know why you've seen it so clearly?" he asked very quietly, making Jinyoung's eyes go wide. This was impossible. He couldn't know. He couldn't. "Listen to me very carefully. If you touch me one more time, I'm going to cut your hands off. Nod your head if you understand."

His eyes were dark and cold, face dead serious. Jinyoung found himself nodding even before he could really process the thing that just happened. His heart was beating so fast that it was making him dizzy and he felt like he couldn't breathe, but he also couldn't force himself too look away from this face; a face that screamed "danger."

"Jinyoung, get the hell away from him!" one of the officers finally yelled, making Jinyoung jump on his seat and almost cough up his lungs out from fear. He quickly stood up and pushed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, not wanting to show the stranger how much they were shaking. 

"Jinyoung, huh?" the boy hummed, leaning back on the chair. "Nice name."

In his mouth it didn't sound nice at all. This, too, sounded like a threat. 

Every single word he said to Jinyoung sounded like he was disgusted, like Jinyoung really was a monster. But when Jinyoung was trying to fall asleep that night, he kept thinking about his cold voice, the dead stare, blood on his hands and his laugh. The terrifying laugh. 

And, he thought, maybe he wasn't the only monster at the police station that day. 


	2. 02: second encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNINGS:** mentions of blood, guns and violence.
> 
> +it is very Very important: when i'm writing this, i'm imagining all of the members from the eclipse era. they look the way they do now. its Important for Reasons (said reason being that jingyeom looks so good now,,,,, Important)  
> also sorry if there are any mistakes, its currently 4am here when i'm finishing this >:(

**02  
second encounter**

**— i —**

_"I don't want to do this."_

_The boy looked up with defiance on his face, he kept his hands safely tucked into the pockets of his pants to at least try protecting as much skin as he could. Letting someone see the things in your head; the past and memories—it was dangerous and felt invasive, like he wasn't his own person anymore because even his thoughts weren't safe. The boy wasn't scared for himself though, he was scared that if the man would know what his mother talked about, he wouldn't let her off easily this time. He couldn't do it to her and so he had to protect himself from being touched._

_"I don't remember giving you much choice," the man's voice was cold and definitive, he wasn't used to people disobeying his orders, much less some dirty kid. "We had a deal, didn't we? I'm not carrying through my first plan because you said you will cooperate without making troubles."_

_"I... I'm not doing this," the boy decided, fists clenched in the pockets. The man stood up abruptly, almost making the chair fall to the floor behind him. Everyone else in the room jumped startled but the boy didn't even blink._

_This was what the man hated about this kid the most; always the troublemaker but never afraid, of nothing and no one. Put a knife to his neck and he will walk forward until you cut him or put the knife down, he never stepped back. Some would say it was admirable, others that it was foolish, but what was certain was that this kid would be dangerous one day if not managed properly._

_"We can always go back to base one," the man said slowly. He took the gun that was lying on the table in front of him and slowly put one bullet inside, making everyone hold their breaths._

_There were two boys in front of the man, two boys dressed exactly the same; close but not touching at all. The man raised the gun and started to move it from one boy to the other, as if he was weighing something, thinking for who the bullet was in the first place—the defiant one or the obedient one, which would hurt more? Which would have a bigger effect?_

_Something twitched in the boy's face when the man moved his gun towards the other... and then he smirked. The obedient one it was, he thought. He could certainly work with that. He loaded the gun, the click sounded loudly in the quiet space. The defiant boy pushed the other one behind himself, taking his place._

_But it was too late to stop the gun._

Yugyeom woke up with a start, almost automatically clutching at the left side of his chest. It was pain from long ago—the psychological one, his body wasn't hurt anymore, but his mind was. This was something he would forget about during the day to come back to it in his nightmares. The boy took a deep breath and looked towards the bars to see who woke him up; it was the officer that arrested him yesterday. Choi... something, whatever. 

"You're out," the man announced, next opening the cell. Yugyeom smirked, getting up and stretching arms above his head. "Move it, kid. Don't tell me you liked it here so much you want to stay with us longer."

"Oh, officer, it was a _delight_ to be here," Yugyeom answered, walking past the shorter man. "But the guy from the cell next to mine kept whining through the whole night. May I at least know why he's here? It sounded serious."

Yugyeom looked back to the officer and squinted at the staff card hanging around his neck—Choi Youngjae, Senior Inspector, KNPA, Seoul Division. So he was being escorted by a senior, huh? Either they were under-staffed or beating up a few idiots suddenly became a bigger crime in Korea. It was probably the first one, he thought. 

"Serious my ass," officer Choi muttered, pushing Yugyeom a little to make him walk faster. "He's here at least once a month, always for the same thing."

"Ah, don't tell me," Yugyeom dramatically put a hand to his chest. "He was pissing in public?"

"Get lost or I'll lock you up just for annoying me," Choi Youngjae sighed but didn't deny Yugyeom's words. He thought it's as good as confirming and let out a laugh, making the officer scowl at him even more. "The man who bailed you out is still waiting. Don't let me see you here again, you already caused more troubles than it's worth it."

Yugyeom suddenly thought of something. "Hm, officer, I have a question," he said, making the man turn around towards him once again with raised eyebrows. "There was... a guy here yesterday when you brought me in. He was wearing a red hoodie, I've heard one of your guys calling him Jinyoung. Does he work here?" Yugyeom asked with a lopsided grin. He didn't miss the way the officer's eye twitched when Yugyeom mentioned Jinyoung and it was enough to make Yugyeom more interested but he played it cool. 

"Why are you asking about him?" Choi Youngjae crossed arms over his chest to look more intimidating but his face was still too unsure to pull it off and he seemed to be aware of that as he looked Yugyeom in the eyes. It kind of wanted to make Yugyeom take pity on him, after all he was the one who agreed to Yugyeom's request of not being touched yesterday. 

"Just because," Yugyeom shrugged. "He started to question me without my lawyer being present, I was thinking about suing him," the boy clicked his tongue to add more serious effect but then his grin returned as he couldn't really help it. "But if he's not working here, then we're good. Oh, can you just pass him a message if you see him again?"

The officer eyed Yugyeom suspiciously almost like he was really considering locking him up again. "What message?"

"Just tell him that the answer to his question is no, he'll get it." Yugyeom saluted the officer and then turned around swiftly to walk out of the building. 

**— ii —**

Jinyoung really didn't plan to follow this guy.

He was just going to the police station because there was something he remembered from the yesterday's reading—something he needed to tell Mark. Jinyoung couldn't get a hold of him through the phone and one of the other officers said that Mark was out for now so Jinyoung decided he can wait and tell Mark personally, it's not like he had that much to do otherwise; Jackson was too busy with all the additional lectures he took, Jinyoung wished he was half as ambitious but... well, he was rather lazy when it came to studying, Jaebeom would surely confirm it. So Jinyoung made a detour after school and he really was going to go straight to the police station.

But then he saw the guy from yesterday and he kind of... forgot what he was even going to tell Mark. His legs seemed to develop a mind of their own and they carried Jinyoung across the street before his brain could even process it. Jinyoung tugged the black hood on and slowly moved forward; he didn't even know what he wanted to gain by following the stranger. Maybe he just wanted to ask how did he know about Jinyoung's abilities? But he didn't honestly believe that the boy would tell him anything anyway. 

Jinyoung couldn't sleep at all last night, he kept thinking about those cold eyes and the way the boy laughed at him. How could he just leave it?

Kim Yugyeom, that was his name. Youngjae told Jinyoung only because he'd been pleading for more than half an hour and the officer just wanted some peace and quiet; also Jinyoung threatened to run after him until he touches Youngjae and finds out on his own. But that was the unofficial truth. Having a name for the face was comforting in some way, at least he wasn't anonymous anymore and thus scared Jinyoung a tiny bit less. Apparently it was enough for Jinyoung to think he can just follow the guy. 

It kept raining throughout the whole day but now the rain was getting stronger and Jinyoung briefly noticed that the boy still had only his black t-shirt on. By now he parted ways with the man that was walking with him from the police station and he was getting closer to the docks. Jinyoung could smell the ocean and suddenly the vision he saw yesterday appeared in his mind again. He desperately tried to remember if the stranger was dressed in black jeans and a shirt; it was stupid—Jinyoung couldn't see the future. 

But still...

When Jinyoung looked up again, Kim Yugyeom was gone. He stopped to look around, rain drops were falling from his eyelashes and it was a bit harder to really see anything. Which way did the boy go? Maybe Jinyoung wasn't cut out for the detective's job after all. He sighed and wiped his face from the water, taking out his phone. If he lost Yugyeom, he didn't have a reason to go further so he decided to check whether Mark was back at the station. Jinyoung already dialed the number and was raising the phone to his ear—

Suddenly someone caught Jinyoung's arm and turned him around, next roughly pushing him up against a wall of one of the old warehouses. Jinyoung was too surprised to react, the phone fell from his hand into a puddle but the boy immediately forgot about it when an arm pushed at his throat, cutting off his oxygen.

"Hands to yourself," a cold voice hissed once Jinyoung instinctively tried to clutch at the arm. Jinyoung blinked quickly; in front of him was Kim Yugyeom and... a knife pointed at Jinyoung's face. That definitely made Jinyoung lower his hands again. 

"I... can't b-breathe..." he forced out. He was standing on his tiptoes, pressed tightly against the bricks. Yugyeom's eyes slowly moved across Jinyoung's face and then the arm loosened up a bit, allowing Jinyoung to finally think clearly; his first thought was that Yugyeom knew about his abilities way more than was possible—before pressing an arm against Jinyoung's neck, Yugyeom dragged Jinyoung's hoodie a little bit up so there still would be a layer of clothing between them and he wouldn't have to touch naked skin. Usually people thought Jinyoung has to touch them with his hands to be able to read them, only Jaebeom knew from the start that this ability wasn't limited to that, that any skin to skin contact would trigger the reading. 

"Why were you following me?" Yugyeom asked. And there went Jinyoung's thoughts that he was being subtle. He hoped Jaebeom will never know of this situation, otherwise his older brother would never allow him to try out for the police department. 

Jinyoung blinked the rain away; Yugyeom's face was very close to his own and for the first time Jinyoung allowed himself to _look_ at the boy. Yesterday he was too distracted by everything that had happened so he didn't really notice that Kim Yugyeom was actually very handsome. His hair had gray ash color, the rain made it stick to Yugyeom's forehead in a manner that made him seem way too young compared to his behavior, he had black piercings in both ears. But his eyes... dark cold eyes staring back at Jinyoung in the most unsettling way. No one had ever looked at Jinyoung like that before.

"Is it because of what you saw yesterday? Are you really with the police? What, you saw me robbing some convenience store or some shit?" Yugyeom continued, arm still firmly against Jinyoung's neck.

Jinyoung tilted his head a little bit. " _Did_ you rob a convenience store?" he asked dumbly. 

For a moment there was genuine confusion on Yugyeom's face that almost made him look adorable, if it wasn't for the knife in his hand, obviously. 

"Are you an idiot? If it's not that, then—" the boy started with furrowed eyebrows. But before he could finish, Jinyoung has heard a loud sound—a gunshot. The bullet struck right above Jinyoung's head, making him yell when Yugyeom instinctively pulled Jinyoung to the ground in a manner that briefly made Jinyoung think Yugyeom was used to it. When someone shot at them again, Jinyoung tried to clutch at Yugyeom, but the boy roughly pushed him off, making Jinyoung's head bounce against the brick wall. "Not now, focus!" Yugyeom yelled. Jinyoung saw black spots in front of him but then he realized what Yugyeom had done; he just stopped Jinyoung's reading, this really wasn't a good moment. 

But Jinyoung had never been able to stop the reading before; it didn't depend on whether he wanted to do it or not, it just happened as soon as he touched someone. He didn't know it's possible to stop it. 

"What the hell is going on?!" Jinyoung screamed, not even caring how high-pitched his voice was. Yes, his brother was a prosecutor, his friends were officers of the law, but Jinyoung has never heard gunshots outside of the shooting range and he certainly has never been shot at. 

Yugyeom frantically looked around, trying to see where the attacker was. Jinyoung thought that by staying here they're revealing themselves too much, there was too much open space around them; apparently Yugyeom thought the same thing because suddenly he caught Jinyoung's wrist through his hoodie and dragged him towards the closest corner, almost making Jinyoung fall to the ground when he slipped on some puddle. Another gunshot sounded in the same moment they rounded the corner, the bullet hit the ground exactly in the place where Jinyoung and Yugyeom had been crouching seconds ago. Jinyoung instinctively covered his head with one arm, letting Yugyeom take the lead. The taller boy pushed him into the warehouse and told him to run; all around them were huge containers that created a maze inside of the building. The smell of the ocean and fish got even stronger and Jinyoung involuntarily grimaced. This was an old place with so many holes in the roof that Jinyoung doubted it's even really used anymore; the rain was falling through and hitting against metal, creating a loud noise that almost drowned out footsteps of the two running men. 

That meant Jinyoung also couldn't hear if anyone was following them. He was terrified, Yugyeom's words from yesterday kept echoing in his head— _want me to show you how it feels like?_ He didn't want to know, all he knew was that his pain tolerance had always been incredibly low. This was, of course, his fault. No one told him to follow Yugyeom, he knew the boy was dangerous even before someone started to shoot at him, it's just that Jinyoung rarely thought his actions through before he had to face the consequences; this was one of the many things he fought over with Jaebeom on a daily basis. God, he really hoped he'll have a chance to fight with Jaebeom again. 

When another gunshot sounded behind them, Yugyeom suddenly let go of Jinyoung and fell to his knees with a scream that tore through his throat. Jinyoung's body was paralyzed, he was staring with wide eyes as a string of red blood flows from under the sleeve of Yugyeom's black shirt. 

Yugyeom's head snapped towards Jinyoung. "Run, you fucking idiot!" the boy yelled angrily, making Jinyoung snap out of his daze. He quickly covered his hands with the sleeves of his hoodie and caught Yugyeom by the arm—the one that was still healthy, and he pulled Yugyeom up with some difficulty. Fortunately he didn't get shot in the leg so it was a struck of fortune in this terrible situation.

Jinyoung felt as if he was in a dream, this just simply wasn't happening to him. This... His thoughts were interrupted when a vision of an identical warehouse appeared in his mind. Jinyoung immediately pushed Yugyeom behind one of the containers to give them some shelter, his hand was flat against Yugyeom's chest to keep him in place. Yugyeom's face was pale, he was loosing too much blood. The boy opened his mouth to say something, but this time Jinyoung was faster.

"The reading... You told Youngjae to tell me no, that you weren't shot before. But in the reading I saw someone pointing a gun at you," Jinyoung breathed out, touching a place right under Yugyeom's left shoulder. "It happened in an old warehouse."

"Bullshit, you can't see the future," Yugyeom said through gritted teeth, trying to mask the pain he felt. But Jinyoung could still see it, his eyes weren't so focused anymore.

"Then tell me you were lying. Because the gun fired," Jinyoung answered, almost pleaded. He wanted Yugyeom to tell him that he had been, in fact, shot before. That he recovered. That he wouldn't die tonight. 

Yugyeom was quiet for a moment, his dark eyes were staring right back into Jinyoung's and they seemed to convey so many things. 

"Run," Yugyeom said finally, voice quiet but still even. "This has nothing to do with you. You can't let them see your face, do you understand?"

Jinyoung blinked, confused. "What? No, I can't leave you—"

"I would leave you. If they weren't here for me, I wouldn't even look back at you," the boy spit out. Jinyoung didn't doubt that for a second. But he wasn't like Yugyeom. "Now get the hell out of here because if they won't kill you, I will."

Yugyeom pushed Jinyoung away.

And so Jinyoung ran. He ran and ran, until all he could think about was the fire in his chest instead of dark dead eyes and blood. He ran until he couldn't tell the difference between guilt and relief; guilt because he left, relief because he was still alive. 

He hoped he's not the only one.

**— iii —**

"He's been sitting like that for the past four hours."

Jackson's voice was quiet and laced with worry, Jinyoung could hear him even though his best friend probably didn't want him to. Jinyoung had his quirks but this behavior was strange even for him, strange enough to make Jackson call Jaebeom and Mark—both were now standing in the doorway to Jackson's bedroom where Jinyoung was. Jinyoung knew that if he goes home, he would be there alone. He usually was there alone, Jaebeom always worked late, and Jinyoung didn't think he'd stand being alone right now, so he came to the only safe place he could think of, which happened to be Jackson's apartment. He hasn't said a word ever since he came, at first his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't even take off his hoodie.

"He doesn't want to talk to me, he's just... he's just drawing the same thing over and over again," Jackson explained, nervously stepping from foot to foot and nodding towards the notebook that was opened in front of Jinyoung. 

Jinyoung could hear footsteps and a few seconds later Jaebeom crouched next to the bed to take a look at the drawing. Jinyoung didn't know what it was, he just needed something— _anything_ to do, so he grabbed a pen from the drawer and then just... let it slide across the pages as if it had a life of its own. It wasn't even really a drawing, just an asterisk with the letter "e" right after. _*e_. This didn't make sense, Jinyoung's head was such a mess right now. 

Was Yugyeom okay?

"Jinyoung, what does that mean?" Jaebeom asked, but Jinyoung could just shrug. 

He tilted his head slightly and then slowly looked up, his eyes fell on Mark that was looking at him with so much concern. "Satoori," Jinyoung said finally, furrowing his eyebrows. "This man... he was talking in a heavy satoori accent and there was something... it sounded weird. Like... maybe he had cleft lip or something," he muttered. "I was going to tell you this earlier but then I saw the boy that was arrested yesterday. The one I told you about. And I followed him," Jinyoung continued, looking down at his hands. Three pairs of eyes were stuck on him and everything was quiet, they were waiting for Jinyoung to continue. "He told me to run but... I shouldn't have left him," Jinyoung started to crack his fingers out of nerves.

Yesterday he told himself he wanted to help this boy. If his abilities proved to be useless again, if someone would die even though Jinyoung could at least _try_ to prevent it... He wouldn't forgive himself. 

"Jinyoung, what are you talking about?" Mark asked, making Jinyoung look up at him again.

"He got shot, hyung. And I left him because I was scared. It was his arm, not chest, so maybe... Maybe this wasn't what I saw in the reading," Jinyoung's voice was quiet, like he was trying to convince himself more than the others. 

"Wait, who got shot? What the hell is this about?" Jackson was clueless because Jinyoung didn't really tell him much about Yugyeom. He wasn't in the mood to do so now, it's not like telling Jackson could help Yugyeom in any way. 

Jaebeom was still looking down at the drawing, he seemed to have seen it somewhere before. There was something not quite right in his expression just then but Jinyoung was too exhausted to try to understand it. When the adrenaline he felt earlier started to wear out, it was like he was suddenly empty. He couldn't focus on anything, didn't even think about reporting what had happened earlier. What good could it do? Jinyoung didn't see the shooter. 

"Where did this happen?" Mark took out his phone, speaking like a detective again. "I will send a patrol to check the place. You should have come to me earlier, Jinyoung."

"I know, I'm just..."

"You're too used to people not believing you," Mark sounded angry. He shot Jaebeom an annoyed glare even though the prosecutor was too busy inspecting the drawing to notice it. "I'm your hyung, your friend _and_ a detective. Your safety is the most important thing for me, do you at least know that much?" Mark asked, making Jinyoung feel guilty. Of course he should have told Mark earlier. He should have gone straight to the police station. God, he was such an idiot. "You could have gotten shot and you didn't even think about letting us know?"

"I'm sorry, hyung. It was in the docks. Please... I just want to make sure he's alright," Jinyoung pleaded.

Mark sighed and for a moment just stared at Jinyoung like he wanted to say something more, but then he just dialed a number and pressed the phone to his ear. "Youngjae? Listen, send some guys to the docks. Someone was shooting there earlier... Yeah. And listen, tell all patrols that we're looking for Kim Yugyeom, send them his picture... No, he didn't do anything. Don't engage, just call me if anyone sees him," he muttered, hanging up and taking a deep breath.

Jinyoung knew that Mark theoretically couldn't use his authority in that way, even if he was the commissioner's son, and he felt bad that his hyung was doing this for him. Whenever Jinyoung tried to help in cases by using his abilities, he didn't expect anything in return and he didn't want it to feel like he was doing something like that now just because he gave Mark some information about the guy Jinyoung had seen in the vision of the dead man from the arson case. He didn't even know if what he had said would be useful, there were millions of people who spoke in satoori. But maybe the cleft lip would give them some leads. Jinyoung didn't know anything anymore, his thoughts kept running back to that old warehouse. 

"Jinyoung," Jaebeom spoke up suddenly, startling Jinyoung. "I need you to tell me where have you seen this," the prosecutor pointed to the drawing.

Mark snorted with disbelief. "Are you serious right now? Your brother just told you someone tried to shoot him! And you care about some stupid drawing?"

Jaebeom calmly looked towards Mark only to move his gaze back to Jinyoung. "It's important."

"And Jinyoung isn't?!" 

"Hyung, you should calm down," Jackson said, putting a hand on Mark's arm. "Come on, Jinyoung is okay now. He didn't get hurt. Let's make him something to eat, yeah?" Jackson offered, almost dragging Mark out of the room.

Jinyoung was glad for that; he didn't want Mark to fight with Jaebeom. His hyung's behavior could be often misunderstood just because he wasn't the emotional type and didn't really like showing his feelings to others—in his line of job this was pretty obvious for Jinyoung and he was used to it. Besides he knew that Jaebeom was always worried about him. For example because Jaebeom has been holding onto the edge of Jinyoung's shirt with one hand from the moment he crouched next to the bed to look at the drawing. Jinyoung was pretty sure his hyung did it without even realizing.

"Jinyoung, can you think about it? Did you see it in one of your readings?" Jaebeom's voice made Jinyoung snap out of his thoughts. 

He looked down at the notebook and frowned. "I'm not sure... I didn't even realize what I was drawing until Jackson said it was the same thing over and over again. Why is it so important?" 

Jaebeom seemed troubled, like he wasn't sure if he should tell Jinyoung. But then he took a deep breath and looked back to the _*e_. "Listen to me. This symbol is connected to the Yeongsan Apartment fire," the man said softly. Jinyoung felt as if his heart dropped. "Someone had drawn this next to the apartment that caught on fire first. Were you touching your parent's belongings again? Is this where you've seen it?" he asked urgently.

Jinyoung involuntarily shook his head, swallowing around the lump in his throat. "No, I—" he stuttered, closing his eyes tightly and trying to remember. He didn't see it in the apartment, he was sure of it. He... The hospital. It was somewhere in the hospital, before this woman started to strangle him. 

Jinyoung's eyes opened wide when he finally remembered. This was the first time he had seen something that could actually help. It was something that could help catch the killer.

"I think this symbol was tattooed on the woman that set the hospital on fire yesterday."

**— iv —**

Kim Yugyeom pushed the backdoors open, leaving a bloody handprint on the white wood when his palm slipped against it. He saw the light in the kitchen, that's why he came here instead of trying to get in through the front. He couldn't even feel anything anymore, all he knew was that his head was getting more and more dizzy. There was a gunshot wound on his arm and a bright red line running across his neck; they were holding him back with a fishing line, Yugyeom remembered how it dug into his skin, almost cutting it and not letting the boy breathe before they released it so he wouldn't loose his consciousness too fast. This was the fun part for them—taking him to the very edge of his endurance, watching the way he struggles for at least a little bit of oxygen, then cutting it off and then... bringing him back to do it all over again. They wanted him to beg to be killed. 

Yugyeom had never begged for anything in his life. He wasn't about to start now.

There was a man in the kitchen that now turned around at the sound. The cutting knife fell from his hand once he noticed his best friend, his eyes widened in shock and fear.

"Bam... I think I could use some help," Yugyeom mumbled. And then he collapsed to the floor when the world finally turned black around him.

His last thought was that if he survives this, BamBam was going to kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first story that has a very different plot from what i'm usually writing, i don't know yet if i'm good at suspense and the whole criminal stuff, so i'd appreciate if you'd let me know what u think so far!!


	3. 03: good decisions?

**03  
good decisions?**

**— i —**

"Are you going to look for him?"

Yugyeom's hands stopped on the last button of his red flannel shirt; his knuckles still hurt and skin was bruised but he tried to avoid looking at it. The red line around his neck was the worse injury... well, maybe aside from the shot wound. Jesus, how was he going to show himself to his mother? Yugyeom slowly looked back to his best friend who was leaning against the door frame.

"Look for who?" Yugyeom asked with a raised eyebrow, running a hand through his gray hair to make it look like he didn't just spend two days being dead. Technically. 

BamBam shrugged noncommittally. "The psychic kid," he said carefully, knowing exactly how willing Yugyeom was to talk about anything related to that stupid shit. "You kept talking about him when you've had a fever. He's... It's Jinyoung? That's his name?" 

Yugyeom took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat. "Why in hell would I look for him, Bam? Do you think I need this kind of trouble?"

"No, but I think he might help. I mean, I don't know about his abilities—"

"They're worse than... He's not as good, at least I don't think so," Yugyeom muttered, cursing at himself for playing into BamBam's game. 

He didn't want to look for the psychic kid. Frankly, he never wanted to see him again and meeting him at all was already bad enough. To think that more than one person with such abilities was located in the same place... It didn't even seem possible, it was just too much. Yugyeom wondered if the Jinyoung guy was the one he's heard about before; he hoped not because if yes then Jinyoung could be in serious trouble once his identity is discovered. But why should Yugyeom care about it? 

"Then you know _you_ can help _him_. And then just use him," BamBam shrugged, like he couldn't understand why Yugyeom was trying to make everything so difficult. 

"I can't do that. If they would find out about him, they would... I just can't do this to him. One person is enough."

"It wasn't your fault, you know that. Stop being stupid, no one could do anything and you were a fucking kid, Yugyeom. What are the chances that you'll meet someone else with these abilities? This Jinyoung might be your last chance, repressed memories are—" the boy tried again. And Yugyeom knew that his friend wanted to help, he really did. But it didn't stop him from getting angry. 

"I won't do it! Maybe it wasn't my fault but I didn't do anything back then and it fucked me up in more ways than one. I can't put someone else through this. I've told you, remember? When we first met. I've told you it's not good to be around me and if it was anyone else than you, I would make sure you stayed away. Just because you can take care of yourself, it doesn't mean the Jinyoung guy can do that. Besides, he's somehow connected to the police. We should lay low for a while. I mean it, BamBam. No fights for a while," he pointed a finger at the tall boy who only grimaced and rolled his eyes.

BamBam raised his hands in defeat. "Yes, boss. Whatever you say."

Yugyeom knew BamBam was mad at him now but it didn't matter. All that mattered was making sure they both stayed alive and if Yugyeom sometimes needed to be an asshole to achieve that, then so be it. 

**— ii —**

Jinyoung was walking around aimlessly, touching everything in hopes of seeing something useful. He couldn't sleep for the last three days, whenever his eyes closed he could see blood, he could hear the gunshots. He was spending more time with Jackson because he just couldn't stand being alone and his friend seemed to see that Jinyoung still didn't really feel good, that's why Jackson decided to miss some additional lectures just to be with Jinyoung. Mark was stopping by more often, too, and that actually started to make Jinyoung feel stupid—he didn't want to worry them so much, in addition Mark was more annoyed with Jaebeom who didn't do anything, didn't even come back home at night to be with his younger brother.

Jinyoung tried to pull himself together but none of the patrolling policemen had seen Yugyeom; which of course didn't have to mean anything bad, Jinyoung was sure that Yugyeom was excellent at hiding from police if he wanted to. But he was just anxious. Probably that's why he was at the docks now just days after he almost died here. He hoped that if Yugyeom had touched anything here, he would see it. He would see that the boy did get out of this old magazine, that he didn't die there. 

His abilities weren't that good though, he knew it, it was just desperation that guided him now. It's been raining almost throughout the whole week, even if there were any traces to begin with, they would be gone with the rain. Jinyoung cursed to himself, he was starting to feel dizzy from overusing his ability. A useless ability. 

The boy opened his eyes when he could hear a car not too far away. He turned around to see a black vehicle slowing down behind him to finally stop next to Jinyoung. The window started to roll down and Jinyoung needed all his willpower to control the fight or flight instinct and not run away. 

"I'm just curious. Do you actually want to die?" The voice was familiar and Jinyoung could feel how something lifted from his chest. He didn't even realize how much he was worrying until he saw Yugyeom with his own two eyes. "Get in the car, we need to talk."

It probably wasn't the smartest idea, but Jinyoung got in almost immediately, looking at Yugyeom as if he wasn't sure that he's seeing right. Yugyeom didn't look very good, though. He was pale, there were bruises on his hands and face, and the most disturbing was the red line that ran across his neck. 

"Did you tell the police to look for me?" Yugyeom asked with eyes stuck on the road in front of him. 

Jinyoung was opening and closing his mouth for a moment before he could finally force something out. "I... I just... I wanted to know if you're alive," he said quietly, for some reason Yugyeom's tone of voice made him feel guilty about it. Especially since the police officers didn't turn out to be helpful at all and Jinyoung was left worried sick. 

"You can see that I am so tell them to cut it out. I don't need patrols stopping me on the streets every five minutes," the boy snapped, shooting Jinyoung an annoyed glance that made him flinch a little. "And you? Did you... No one saw you when you were running out, right? You made sure no one is following you?" Yugyeom cleared his throat as if he felt uncomfortable. 

Jinyoung frowned, trying to think back. "I didn't really... I mean, I just focused on running?" Jinyoung muttered.

"Jesus, your brother is a fucking prosecutor, how can you be this dumb?" Yugyeom asked, sounding genuinely curious. 

Jinyoung tried not to feel offended. "How do you know that?"

"Do you see how easy it is to do a background check on you? All I needed was your name and the way you look. Today I found you by accident but you shouldn't have come back to the docks. What the hell were you doing there?"

Jinyoung really shouldn't feel good after hearing that someone did a fucking background check on him but he couldn't help it—it meant that Yugyeom was thinking about him at some point just like Jinyoung had been thinking about Yugyeom. His mind worked kind of weird sometimes. 

"Trying to see if you got out," Jinyoung admitted, not seeing a reason to lie. "What happened to you? Did they catch you? Who was that?" the questions got out so fast that Jinyoung didn't even think them through, he just wanted to grab his chance. He spent the last three days thinking that this man died, he couldn't just let him go like that now. 

Yugyeom's hands seemed to tighten on the steering wheel and Jinyoung's eyes involuntarily moved to the bruises he had on them. "None of those things should concern you. Seriously... I threatened you twice already. I told you I will kill you, you do realize that I'd actually be capable of doing it, right?" he asked coldly. 

"Yes," Jinyoung answered immediately. It was true, Yugyeom scared him but also... there was something that seemed to pull Jinyoung towards the boy. He had no idea what that feeling was but he wasn't able to ignore it. 

"Then why are you... Why won't you just let it go?" Yugyeom stopped the car in traffic and turned a little more towards Jinyoung, looking over his face like he was trying to figure him out. Jinyoung looked back, eyes skimming over the bruises and then stopping at his neck. 

"Because I'm curious," he answered after a while. "You're the first person that knew about my abilities without me telling you. You seem to be familiar with it and I'm... I'm still in the dark. I want to use it, I want to help because... There must be a reason I have it, right? But if I can't even help anyone with it then what am I good for? My brother knows more than I do but it's still not enough. And besides him I haven't met anyone that would knew anything. You do, right? You know."

Yugyeom frowned, shaking his head. "I can't help you. I _won't_ help you."

"Please," Jinyoung said immediately, extending his hand only to quickly take it back when Yugyeom flinched away before Jinyoung could touch him. Sometimes he forgot he shouldn't do it, he wasn't allowed to; he wasn't allowed to have basic human reflexes. "If you know anything, why can't you tell me?"

Yugyeom pursed his lips and started to drive again when lights turned green. He was quiet for some time and he seemed to drive around without a destination in mind, Jinyoung didn't say a word either, feeling like he needed to give Yugyeom time. There was something different about him now; like he wasn't so angry anymore which made him less scary and more human. Jinyoung couldn't stop looking at him, not only because he was really pretty, but also because it was quite easy to read his emotions when Yugyeom was distracted and didn't pay attention to hiding them.

Finally he stopped the car and Jinyoung noticed with surprise that they were in front of Jinyoung's university. So the background check was useful, huh?

"Listen to me," Yugyeom started, looking towards Jinyoung. "You need to stop looking for me, you can't be seen with me. There are people that would pay a lot of money to find you if they knew about your abilities and they would use it. You wouldn't be able to do what they want, though, you're not good enough. And if you're not good enough, you're useless. Do you know what people do with useless things? They throw them away," he said, making a shiver run down Jinyoung's spine when he understood what Yugyeom was implying. "That's why I can't help you. If your abilities get better, someone will notice."

"You... you're able to make them better?" Jinyoung stuttered, frowning. He preferred to not focus on the fact that apparently he could get killed over his psychometry. It was probably stupid to not think about it before; of course there would be someone who'd want to use it. Why was he so dumb? He never tried to especially hide it, he was even boasting to whoever wanted to listen. Idiot. 

Yugyeom cursed again. "Focus!" He pushed Jinyoung back a little, careful to touch him only through his clothes. "Tell me you won't look for me anymore."

Jinyoung swallowed. "I can't promise that."

"Then I can't promise that you won't get hurt," Yugyeom answered, sounding resigned. Jinyoung was surprised, was Yugyeom worrying about him? Did he not want Jinyoung to get hurt and that's why he told him all of this? But... he himself threatened Jinyoung twice before, it didn't make any sense. 

"It's alright. That's my decision and you did warn me, it won't be your fault," he said, though he hated when anyone told _him_ that. Especially when Jaebeom kept repeating it. 

"You... you won't let it go, will you?" Yugyeom raised an eyebrow. Jinyoung shook his head with determination, it was something he had to do; if Yugyeom could help, he needed to know. The boy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I'll find you."

"W-what?" Jinyoung blinked surprised, not sure if he's heard it right.

"I'll find you. But until then don't do anything, you hear me? And stop going to the fucking docks, you idiot. Now get out of my car," he muttered with annoyance. 

Jinyoung couldn't stop a smile that spread over his face. "You're worried about me?" he chuckled when Yugyeom looked at him with wide eyes. He could swear that the boy's ears got a little bit red.

"Say that again and I'll break your nose, see who's gonna be worried about you then," Yugyeom grumbled. Jinyoung laughed, getting out of the car. He barely closed the doors when the car drove off with a squeak of the tires. 

He really shouldn't think that someone who could kill him was cute. Damn his mind. 

**— iii —**

"Is everything okay, boss?" 

Yugyeom raised his head from the papers laid out in front of him. He couldn't focus on anything and he was just drawing circles on an empty page for what seemed like eternity. He didn't like the quiet, in their business it never meant anything good and Yugyeom wasn't particularly interested in big troubles said quiet heralded. His thoughts kept going back to the psychic guy; he had to be the most reckless person Yugyeom had ever met, the fact that he had a death wish wasn't even up for discussion. But for some reason it bothered Yugyeom more than it should.

"I told you to stop calling me that," Yugyeom muttered, looking at the boy who was standing in the doorway. Chan was his age and Yugyeom always felt weird when he was called that. 

Chan tilted his head and smiled slightly, shrugging. "Can't really help it. But seriously, did something happen? You look out of it."

Yugyeom bit his bottom lip. "Can you close the doors? I actually have something I want to ask," he said slowly, trying to think if what he wanted to do would help or just make things worse. He seemed to have troubles with good decisions lately, he didn't want to fuck up anything else more than he already did. But if there was one person he could talk about it with, it was Chan. 

The boy nodded, obediently closing the doors and walking closer to Yugyeom's desk to sit on the chair in front of him. "What is it? Can I help with something?"

"I'm not sure... It's just... There's something that's bothering me. I need you to follow someone for me but I don't want _anyone_ to know," Yugyeom stressed and Chan nodded in understanding. It meant that the big boss couldn't know and hiding something from him wasn't as easy as one would think, not if your name wasn't Kim Yugyeom at least.

"I can get Changbin to do it, you know he's our best and he won't talk. Anything specific we need to watch out for?" Chan asked. That's what Yugyeom loved about him the most, he never questioned Yugyeom, he just trusted him and helped whenever he could; there weren't many people in the business that Yugyeom could trust specifically because of his connections, but he was very grateful for Chan. 

"I just want to know that there's no one suspicious around him. Especially... I need to know if my father sends someone after him," Yugyeom explained, nervously tapping his fingers against the table. Chan's eyes widened at that. "I'll understand if you don't want to put any of your guys in danger, I wouldn't want anything to happen to Changbin or anyone else, but I can't do it alone now. They're watching me too closely and it's not only our people. The others, too. I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to, but I'll understand if you think it's too risky," he said quickly, looking up at his friend.

Chan was quiet for a moment, thinking it over. "No, it's... Changbin is good, no one will know. And I'm sure you have your reasons, you would do the same for me. Just give me the name and don't worry about it, make sure you're safe, yeah?" the boy smiled.

"Thank you, Chan. Oh, by the way, I already have the new documents for Minho that you asked about. Tell him to come pick them up when he has time, okay? I need to talk to him about a few things," Yugyeom suddenly remembered. He wanted to get it done as soon as he could because right now Minho was the one who risked the most by even leaving his house. Yugyeom was in charge of taking care of the younger part of the organization, maybe that's why Chan always called him the boss. He just did what he needed to do and he wouldn't let any of them end up in jail, it wasn't their fault that they were even here in the first place. 

"That was fast. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it, he was giving Jisung hard time already. One more week and I'm sure they'd be killing each other over Minho's cats," Chan laughed, shaking his head. "Alright, who are we protecting now?"

Yugyeom swallowed, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake now.

"Jinyoung. Park Jinyoung."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love........... stray kids >:(  
> i hope u guys liked it, please let me know what you think!!


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